The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-07-13
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun,
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Hunting for Souls"

TEXT: "He ,oas mighty hunter before
the Lord."-GenesiS x, y.
In our day. hunting is sport; but in the
lands and the times infested with wild beasts,
IL was matter of life or death with the peo-
ple. It was very different from going out on
q sunshiny afternoon with patent breech-
qoader, to shoot reed-birds on the flats, when
PolIux and Achilles and DiomedeS went out
to clear the land of lions and tigers and bears
Ny text sets forth Nimrol as hero when it
presents him with broad shoulders and
shaggy apparel and sun-browned face, and
| arm punched with muScle-'a mighty hunter
before the Lord.n l think he used the bow
aud the arrow with great success practicing
archery.
1 have thought if it is such a grand thing
and such brave thing to clear wild beasts
out of country, if it is not better and
drawer thing to hunt down and destroy those
great evils of society that are stalking the
land with fierce eye and bloody paw, and
sharp tusk and quick spring. l have won.
dered if there is not such thing as gospel
| hunting, by which those who are flying from
the truth may be captured for God and heaven:
The Lord Jesus in His sermon used the art OF
angling for an Illustration when he said: Il
viii make you fishers of men," And so l
think have authority for using hunting as
an ilustra tion of Gospel truth; and pray
+ God that there may be many man IN this
congregation who shall begin to study Gospel
archery, of whom it may, after while. be
said: He was mighty hunter before the
Lord
How much awkward Christian work there
Is done in the world How many good people
there are who drive souls away from Christ
instead Of bringing them to Him! religious
blunderers who upset more than they rlght.
Their gun has crooked barrel, and kicks as
It goes oft. They are like clumsy comrade
who goes along with skilful hunters at
the very moment he ought to be most
ouiet he is cracking an alder or fall
inc over log and frightening
away the game. How few Christian people
have ever learned the lesson of which l read
at the beginning of the service, how that the
Lord Jesus Christ at the well went from talk-
ing about a cup Of water to the most practl-
cal religious truths, which won the womans
soul for God! Jesus in the wilderness was
breaking bread to the people. L think 1t
was good bread: it was very light bread,
and the yeast had done its work thoroughly.
Christ. after he had broken the bread, said to
the people: Beware of the yeast, or OF the
leaven, of the Pharisees!" So natural tran
sition it was; and how easily they all under
stood him! But how few Christian people
who understand how to fasten the truths OF
God and religion to the souls Of men Tru-
man Osborne, one of the evangeIsts who went
through this country some years ago, mad
wonderful art in the right direction. de
came to fathers house one day, and while we
were all seated in the room, ne SAD: MI; aI;;
Talmage, are ali your children Chrlstlans!
Father said. "Yes, all but De Witt" Then
Truman Osborne looked down into the ire
Z, place, and began to tell story OF a storm
that came on the mountains, and all the sheep
were in the fold: but there was one lamb out
side that perished in the storm. Had ne
looked me in the eye, / should have teen an
gered when he told me that story; but he
looked into the fireplace, and it was so pa
thetically and beautifully done that never
found any peace until was sure l was inside
the fold where the other sheep are.
The archers of cd times studied their art.
They were very precise in the matter. Inc
books gave special directions as to how the
archer should 60, and as to what an archer
should do. He must stand erect and firm: his
left foot little in advance Of his right with
his left hand he must take hold OF the bow
in the middle, and then with the
three fingers and the thumb OF MS
righ hand he should lay hold of the arrow
and affix it to the string-so precise was the
direction given. But how clumsy we are
5 about religious work, How little skill and
care we exercise! How often our arrows miss
the mark: Oh, that we might learn the art
OF doing good and become mighty hunters
before tue Lord"
In the first place, if you want to be effectual
in dong COOL, you must be very sure Of your
:; weapon here was something very fas-
cinating about the arch-ry of olden tines.
Perhars you do not know what they could
do with the bow AMI arrow Why The chief
battles fought by the English Plantagenets
were with the long bow. Thy would take
abe arrow of polished wood, and feather it
with the plume of bird, and then it would
hy from the bow-string of plated silk. The
8 broad fields of Agincourt, and Solway Moss,
and Neville's Cross, heard the loud thrum OF
the archer's bow-string. Now, my Christian
friends, we have mightier weapon than that.
1t is the arrow OF the Gospel; it IS a sharp ar,
row; it is a straight arrow; it is feathered
from the wing of the dove of Gods spirit; lit flies
from bow made out of the wood OF tho cross.
As far as can estimate or calculate, it has
brought down four hundred million souls.
Paul knew how to bring the. notch of that
arrow on to that bow-string, and its whirr
was heard through the Corinthian theatres,
and through the courtroom, until the
knees Of Felix knocked together. 1t
was that arrow that stuck in Luther's heart
when he cried out: "Oh my sins! Oh, my
sinsI" If it strike man in the head. it kills
his skepticism; if it strike him in the heel, it
will turn his step; if it strike him in the heart,
he throws up his hands, as did one Of old
when wounded in the battle. crying: "Oh,
Galilean, Thou hast conqueredn
In the armory of the Earl Of Pembroke.
ara old corselets which show that the arrow
Of the English used to go through the breast
plate, through the body of the warrior, and
out through the backplate. What symbol
OF that Gospel which is sharper than two
edged sword, piercing to the dividing aSun-
der of soul and body, and Of the joints and
marrow! Would to God we had more faith
in that Gospel! The humbleSt man in this
house, il. he had enough faith in him. could
bring hudred souls TO Jesus-perhaps five
hundred. Just in proportion as this age
seems to believe less and less in it, believe
more and more in in it, What are
men about that they will no; accept their own
dehverance! THERE'S nothing proposed by men
that can do anything like this Gospel The
religion Of Ralph Waldo Emerson was the
philosophy of icicles; the religion Of Theo-
dore Parker was sirocco of the DESERT COW
ering up the soul with dry sand; the religion
of Renan is the romance of believing moth
ing; the religion of Thomas Carlyle is only
condensed London fog; the religion of the
Huxleys and the Spencers is merely pedestal
on which human philosophy sits sAivering in
the n ght of the soul, looking up to the stars,
offerin. Nd help to the nations that crouch
and grOau at the tase. Tell me where there
is one muu who has IT, ,octed that Gospel for
another, who is thoroughly satisfied, and
helped, and contented il his skepticiSm, and
I will take the car tomorrow and ride five
hundred miles to see him. The full
power of the Gospel has not yet been touched.
As a sportsman throws up his hand and
catches the ball flying through the air, just
so easily will this Gospel after a while catch
this round world flying from its orbit and